Apple signaled its plans to allow independent environmental audits of factories run by its component suppliers in China. This is a direct result to claims that many environmental groups are making of toxic chemicals being used.

The independent audits were agreed to by the Cupertino California company in late January according to Ma Jun, the founder of the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs. The reviews will begin as early as March, and will involve only two of Apple’s 14 suppliers that the company itself did environmental audits on last year. The new independent audits can expand to even more of Apple’s partners in China in the future though. The reviews are said to focus on various environmental issues and aim to address whether Apple’s suppliers are in fact discharging toxic waste.

This was also based off of Apple dealing with last year’s IPE report, which made the original allegations about toxic waste, accusing Apple of working with 24 different companies. Apple has confirmed to be working with at least seven of the 24, including Foxconn and Wintek. In addition to the audits, Apple indicated that the company will rely on a pollution database on the IPE’s website to monitor its supply chain partners.

All of this news comes in after Apple updated its environmental website to reflect the company’s green initiatives for power at its new data center in maiden, North Carolina. The center is going to be aided by a 20-megawatt, 100-acre solar farm, as well as A5-megawatt fuel cell installation. The center itself is the only one in its class to achieve LEED Platinum certification. These audits will be in addition to the worker-centric reviews currently underway by the Fair Labor Association. For those of you who didn’t already know, the FLA has been going around Foxconn’s Chinese factories investigating claims of low wages and forced overtime in Apple’s supply chain.